Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1887-07-23
NOT A GARDEN OF EDEN.
The Rough Experiences Of an American
Colony In Mexico.

The Rough Experiences Of an American
Colony in Mexico.
DEEvER, CoLO., July 18.-William Young,
who has Just returned from the Sinaloa col
ony, in Old Mexico, tells a queer story of the
trials and sufferings OF the $50 to 400 Ameri-
cans who were lured to the land Of cactus
last year by A. K. Owens and others, who
promised the subscribers to the scheme q
regular Garden OF Eden in the community
which they projected Owens VS. an engin-
eer of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad,
who got a Mexican grant Of land near the
mouth of the Gulf of California, and con-
I ceived the idea that it would be a good thing
to locate cOmmunistic town there.
A company was organized IN New Jersey
and extensive advertising was done. About
los families took stock, and the result was
that last January nearly 400 persons, repre-
senting various states in the union, left Den
yer for Pacific City, as the spot was called
on which the cOlOnists were to locate. They
paid S25.25 for each person and contributed
certain amount for grub. Their route was
by rail to Guaymas, and thence across to
PlObambo bay to Pacific City. At the latter
placs-R sandy stretch Of country str6Wn
with rock and caotus-tWenty-five COlOnists,
who had preceded the large body, received
them with brass band and kindly greeting.
/ The brass band was organized by a Mr..
Stanley, who was musician from CalifOr-
MIA.
4u6E5 was 10 GDW4 az EACllC CAbyg anu no
promise Of one. Ten directors were elected,
and men were put to work. Scrip was 70 be
Issued, but none was forthcoming. Ihls
work was paid for with credit marks, each
mark representing 81, and three of them be-
ing given for days work. The work con-
sisted In removing bOulders from the town
site, and few men built e road to an es-
tuary. A cOmmissary store, at which
] cOlOnists could get beans, meat and coffee
on credit, was the only source Of food. DC
casiOnally an antelope was killed. or a
eactus-fed COW bought from the MeEcans,
and then the colony had fresh meat. One
house was built a rectangular structure
made of stone and mud and IN this way hYe
families, comprising twenty persons, live.
AL the others live in tents.
The cOlOuists had been IN their Eden only
/ two weeks when smallpox rushed in upOn
them. They say the Meucans regard small
/ pOx as lightly as sore throat. 1t RACES among
them the whole year round. Everybody IN
| the camp was taken down, and the nearest
approach to a doctor in the colony was a
| druggist from California, who helped the
/ disease along by sending folks to the hos
/ pital who there caught the infection. Five
] died, and it was miracle that all did not
perish. The heat during the winter was 10
/ degrees Ia the shade, and the nearest water
| Mt to drink was SIX miles away. An attempt
was made to find water in the town, but the
| wells dug yielded salt water, which, when
| evaporated in pan, half filed the vessel
I with salt. There was no money IN the col
| Ony and no way OF earning any, unless q
l man was willing 70 Qlg trenches ICr M6Al-
| cans, who paid their labOrers 81 a day and
| three bushels of corn.
| In addition to the hot days the nights are
made restless by a persistent breed Of tieas
/ who bite into the bone. The soil Is sand and
/ unfit for growing anything but cactus.
| There was talk of irrigatlng, but ditch
/ eighty-five miles long from the Eurh river
would have to be built, and that would cost
| over 100000.
When Young left the eolonists had moth
/ ing but corn meal and black coffee to sub
/ sist on. All who could get away left on
| April !, when Young made his escape, the
| company's slOop carrying away five families
] at SO head, which they were obliged to
| pay in cash, without regard to their credits
/ for work, etc.
/ Owens has made several visits to the colo
/ ny, but never for more than few days. he
/ promised to take Marion HarlRnd, of novel
I and cook book fame, to Pacific to edit pa
I per which he intended to call the Credit
/ FdncisT' but neither the paper nor Marion
/ has yet appeared. A second colony has been
/ established at SefracciO, thirty-fve miles
! from Pacific, which is in no better cOndi-
l ton. The few horses in the camp have been
| used for Transporting things between Pacific
! and SefracciO, and men draw the wagons in
/ which boulders are moved from one end OF
/ the colony to the other. The experiment
| was made by red flag waters principally, who
/ put their little all into 6inalOa shares and
/ railroad fares, and who do not now think the
| scheme so rosy.
! From Young's statement the whole thing
| is a fraud and a failure Of the most con-
/ spiCuOus kind.